Suzuki men smash record

From Team Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki riders Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe ducked under the lap record at the Al Carras circuit in Spain yesterday during the British Superbike team's third and final day of its private pre-season test.

Both riders left the Al Carras circuit knowing that they were the fastest people to ever lap the demanding venue with Sykes setting the new unofficial lap record while Watanabe was just 0.47 secs. behind.

"It has been a good test, I'm very happy," said Sykes. "We have got some good base settings now to work from. I've got plenty of laps under my belt; now I need a rest and then I'll be excited and ready to go for the next test. I'm really enjoying the atmosphere in the team and I'm enjoying my Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000."

Team Manager Jack Valentine was thrilled with how well both his riders and team performed.

"The team worked really hard to get the Pirelli tyres working on the abrasive track surface," explained Valentine. "This will stand by us as we prepare to go to the official Pirelli test at Almeria which has a similar surface. I'm looking forward to getting to Almeria so we can get our hands on race rubber. It will also be good to see where we stand against our competitors as there will be other teams there. I'm really pleased with how this test has gone and if we had stayed here for another day both guys would have dropped their lap times even further."